The successful empowerment of Jean-Paul Dubois as the first Feral Striker marked a significant turning point for Elias Thorne. It was one thing to acquire and direct existing powers, like those of Logan or his Tier 1 agents; it was another entirely to create a new class of enhanced operative, tailored, however crudely at this initial stage, to his specifications. The [Feral Striker Field Training/Evolution Sub-Routines] the System had unlocked were already providing Elias with a deeper understanding of how to nurture and develop these new assets.
Within a week, Elias selected and empowered his second Feral Striker: Angus "Mac" Macgregor, the wiry ex-trapper from Thorne's Guard. Macgregor, a Scotsman like Thomas but from a different, wilder Highlands clan, was known for his incredible tracking abilities, his resilience in harsh environments, and a quiet, almost unnerving intensity. His baseline loyalty was [82% (Clan-like respect for MacIntyre, Pragmatic Acceptance of Thorne's Authority)]. The transformation for Macgregor was as jarring as it had been for Dubois, perhaps even more so given his already keen, if normal, senses. He emerged with slightly longer, leaner bone claws than Dubois, and his already sharp eyes took on a distinctly lupine gleam. The System registered him as [Feral Striker Unit (Angus Macgregor – Lv.1) Successfully Created. Innate Abilities variant: Enhanced Olfactory/Tracking Acuity due to pre-existing synergy]. This confirmed Elias's theory that pre-existing traits could subtly shape the manifestation of the empowerment.
Dubois and Macgregor, under Thomas MacIntyre's stoic and now somewhat awestruck supervision, began a rigorous training regimen at the remote compound. Thomas, with his Barbarian strength and years of combat experience, pushed them hard, teaching them to control their new strength, to fight with their bone claws (which they learned to sheathe and extend at will, like Logan, though the mechanism felt more organic, less metallic), and to manage the onslaught of their heightened senses. He also drilled them in teamwork, in pack tactics – something instinctually resonating with their Feral Striker nature.
Elias observed their progress with keen interest, utilizing the System's sub-routines to provide tailored feedback and training parameters. He could see their strengths and weaknesses, areas for improvement, and even project potential evolutionary paths for their abilities based on specific combat stimuli.
[Dubois, Jean-Paul (Feral Striker Lv.1) – Combat Proficiency: C+. Healing Rate: B-. Sensory Acuity: B. Battle Fury Control: D (Requires Stress Inoculation). Recommended Training: Close-Quarters Unarmed/Claw Combat vs. Multiple Opponents, Low-Light Tracking Exercises.]
[Macgregor, Angus (Feral Striker Lv.1) – Combat Proficiency: C. Healing Rate: C+. Sensory Acuity: A- (Olfactory Exceptional). Battle Fury Control: C-. Recommended Training: Stealth/Ambush Tactics, Environmental Adaptation (Extreme Cold/Heat), Long-Range Scent Tracking.]
It was like managing a team of highly specialized, incredibly dangerous athletes, or perhaps, breeding prize war hounds. The 0.4 Prime Essence Shard fragment "rebate" from Macgregor's creation brought his reserve to [1.2/5.0] – still far from enough for another full prototype, but a welcome trickle.
While his Feral Striker pack began to take shape in the Canadian wilderness, the world outside continued its descent into bloody chaos. The Battle of Britain raged in the skies over England, the RAF fighting desperately against the Luftwaffe's relentless onslaught. In North Africa, British and Italian forces clashed in the desert sands. The war was spreading, its tendrils reaching into every corner of the globe.
Anya Petrova, from her London base, was Elias's primary conduit for information on the European theatre. Her network of émigré informants and her carefully cultivated contacts within SOE and other Allied intelligence branches provided a steady stream of data, which she filtered and relayed to Elias with icy efficiency. She reported on the effectiveness of new German radar installations, the devastating impact of U-boat wolfpacks on Atlantic convoys, and, most disturbingly, further whispers of Hydra's continued activities, even after the Adlerhorst disaster.
"They are like their namesake, Mr. Thorne," Anya's coded message stated. "Cut off one head, and two more seem to sprout. Schmidt's fate remains unknown, but Hydra cells are reportedly still active in occupied territories, focusing on acquiring 'items of power' and 'individuals with unique biological markers'."
This intelligence solidified Elias's resolve. He needed to find Schmidt, or at least, confirm his demise. And he needed to proactively hunt down these other Hydra cells before they could consolidate whatever remained of Schmidt's research or unearth new horrors. This would require assets on the ground in Europe, assets more specialized than the conventional military or even the Howling Commandos. His Feral Strikers were still too green, too untested for such a dangerous deployment. He needed Logan.
Logan had been "debriefed" by SOE after the Adlerhorst mission, his more fantastical accounts of the Tesseract and Schmidt's energy powers largely attributed to battle fatigue and the disorienting effects of high-altitude explosions by the conventional intelligence officers. Only Penny Worthington's shadowy department seemed to take his claims with a degree of guarded seriousness, filing them away under "Anomalous Phenomena – Bavarian Alps Incident." Sawyer and the surviving Howling Commandos, while not understanding what they'd truly faced, now treated Logan with a mixture of awe, fear, and a surprising degree of camaraderie forged in shared near-death experience. He was their resident berserker, their human (or not-so-human) trump card.
Elias, through Major Davies, arranged for Logan to be "temporarily detached" from the Commandos for a period of "recuperation and specialized retraining" – a euphemism for returning him to Elias's direct control. He met Logan in a secure SOE safe house in rural England.
The mutant was quieter than usual, the inferno of Adlerhorst still burning in his memory. "So, kid," Logan rumbled, looking Elias up and down. Elias's own subtle physical transformation due to the Wolverine synergy – a lean, hard-muscled density, an almost predatory stillness – was becoming more apparent to Logan's keen senses. "That mountain fortress… that blue fire… Schmidt… He ain't just another jackbooted thug, is he?"
"No, Logan," Elias said. "He, and the organization he leads, Hydra, are something far older, far more dangerous. They seek power beyond our comprehension. And they are still out there."
He laid out what Anya had gathered about remaining Hydra cells, about their continued hunt for artifacts and "unique individuals." He saw a flicker of understanding, and a familiar cold rage, in Logan's eyes. This was a threat that resonated with Logan's own buried, fragmented past of being hunted, experimented upon.
"You want me to go hunting snakes?" Logan asked.
"I want you to be the scalpel that cuts out the heart of this infection, Logan," Elias replied. "While the armies fight their battles, we fight a different war, a shadow war against an enemy that seeks to enslave humanity with powers it cannot control. I need your senses, your strength, your… unique perspective. And I need those Prime Essence Shards they seem to leave behind." He was more direct with Logan now about this aspect; the mutant cared little for the esoteric mechanics, only that it pointed him at enemies who deserved what he could deliver.
Logan's loyalty, presented with a clear, understandable enemy directly linked to the horrors he intuitively recognized, jumped significantly: [55% (Focused Vendetta – Hydra as Primary Antagonist; Trust in Host's Strategic Direction Increasing; Volatility Reduced by Clear Objective)]. It was a major breakthrough. More than half loyalty, even if conditional. The System also noted: [Conduit Integration (Wolverine): Advanced – Shared Purpose Resonance Enhancing Psionic Compatibility and Data Flow. Unlockable System Sub-Routines: "Combat Pattern Analysis (Wolverine)" and "Enhanced Healing Factor Augmentation (Host Self)" nearing threshold.]
These were powerful new potential abilities for Elias himself, directly tied to Logan's growing alignment with his goals.
Elias decided the time was right. He had Logan more focused. He had two newly minted Feral Strikers rapidly developing in Canada under Thomas's tutelage. His intelligence network, anchored by Finch and Anya, was expanding. His financial and industrial base was solidifying.
He would deploy Logan back into occupied Europe, not with the Commandos this time, but as a solo operative, or perhaps, with a very small, highly specialized support team Elias was now considering creating. His mission: hunt Hydra cells, gather intelligence on Schmidt's whereabouts, and neutralize their key researchers and "enhanced assets," thereby also harvesting those precious Prime Essence Shards.
While Logan became his primary offensive weapon against Hydra in Europe, Dubois and Macgregor, once fully trained, would form the core of a rapid-response team, Elias's "Adamantium Guard" (a working title), capable of dealing with domestic threats, protecting his assets, or even undertaking specialized missions overseas if Logan required backup or a different skillset.
The pack was taking shape. The world was bleeding. And Elias Thorne, the quiet king, was methodically positioning his pieces for the next, even bloodier, phase of his clandestine war. The Feral Strikers were sharpening their bone claws in the Canadian wilderness, while the Wolverine was about to be unleashed once more upon the blighted heart of Nazi Europe.